Pierre leaves for Petersburg after his separation from Ellen. As
he waits at the station for his train to arrive, he meets an elderly
man who recognizes him and offers him sympathy. His words of
solace soothe Pierre and the young Count Bezukhov unburdens
his heart to the stranger. Pierre expresses a desire to renounce his
old, sinful life to start afresh. The old man promises to take him
into the fold of Free Masonry. Thus, on reaching Petersburg, the
stranger takes Pierre to the office of the organization and initiates
him into it. Pierre donates a large sum of money to the fold and
promises to work selflessly in the future. With this intention, he
leaves for his estates spread all around the country. His visit
surprises the estate managers but they are afraid that the Count
might suspect them of their corrupt practices. Pierre does not
notice anything amiss. In his zeal to reform, he gives orders to
remove serfdom. He also asks his managers to build schools and
hospitals for the benefit of the peasants and their children. The
managers are unwilling to undertake such reforms but in order to
please the Count pretend to share his views. They do open
schools and colleges but fail to give relief to the peasant laborers.
Pierre overlooks the lapses made by them and is satisfied with
his charitable work. He thus leaves his estates with a lightened
heart.

On his way back to Petersburg, he halts at the estate of Prince
Andrei. Andrei is happy to receive his friend and shares his ideas
with him. Pierre talks about his organization and the reforms he
had undertaken in his estates. Andrei is philosophical in his
outlook and is bitter about his past experiences. Later, he takes
Pierre to meet his father and sister. Princess Marya is busy
entertaining god men and listening to their words of wisdom.
Andrei and Pierre make fun of the pilgrims but when Marya
looks offended, apologize for their mistake. Marya asks Pierre to
make Andrei take care of his health. Prince Bolkonsky is also
happy to meet Pierre. Pierre thus enjoys his stay with the
Bolkonskys and looks cheerful.

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In Moscow, Ellen continues to socialize and wins the sympathy
of her friends. All seem to pity her and accuse Pierre for
deserting her. Boris arrives on the scene and acts important.
People receive him well and look up to him as an important
officer of the government. Ellen befriends him and invites him
home. Thus, Boris starts visiting her.

Nikolai Rostov returns back to Pavlograd regiment and is happy
to be in the company of Denisov. He gets busy with his work as
a Returning officer, while Denisov feels frustrated with the
limited rations given to them. Thus, one day he diverts a carriage
containing food supplies allotted to another regiment to his own
and invokes the wrath of his superiors. He is warned and
threatened with punishment but Denisov is unrepentant. In the
meantime, Denisov participates in an encounter with the enemy
and gets wounded. Nikolai goes to meet him in the hospital and
persuades him to send a letter of apology to the Tsar. Rostov
takes the letter to Bartenstein and passes it on to the emperor.
When the emperor expresses his inability to help Denisov,
Nikolai feels frustrated. To make matters worse, he observes
with horror the friendly scene between Aleksandr and Napoleon.
The two emperors had accepted a truce and were honoring the
soldiers of each otherís troops. Nikolai is unable to accept this
strange friendship between arch-rivals and their bestowing
worthless soldiers with honors. The games of politics puzzle him
and he gets drunk to overcome his misery.